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USDA Buys Surplus Cheese, Extends MPP Date


Some help is coming for US dairy producers from the USDA. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says he’s taken action to help struggling dairy producers by dealing with the surplus of cheese, which he tells Brownfield Ag News is at its highest level in 30 years, “So in an effort to try to provide help and assistance and to complement the work that we’ve done with the Margin Protection Program, we’re announcing a purchase of about 11-Million pounds of cheese that will be used for food banks and pantries to help struggling families who are struggling financially with their food assistance and food help.”

That’s $20 Million of purchases that Vilsack says should help the market a bit. It’s far less than the amounts urged by the National Milk Producers Federation and the American Farm Bureau. Vilsack tells Brownfield, “This is at the end of the fiscal year. We don’t have as much flexibility in the program, obviously, because we’ve already made commitments to purchase various other products throughout the year that are faced with a similar set of challenges and circumstances as our dairy producers are.”

Vilsack has also extended the deadline for signup for the Margin Protection Program. Instead of having until September 30th, dairy producers now have until December 16th.

Source: Brownfield


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